Blog

What type of flooring is affordable and most preferable for the laundry room?

Whether you have a laundry room in a separate room in your home or you are trying to improve the common laundry room in an apartment building, this room requires a special floor. It can be compared to a bathroom since you also have to deal with moisture and dampness there, but it’s rather more about a working space than one where you can relax. This implies that the way it works is more important than its design.

Which floor should it be?

You first have to ask the classic question about what properties the floor in the laundry room should have and what you can expect from it. The answer is quite clear. Important is its resistance to water and moisture. If you also use the room for drying, then you can expect water to drip from the wet laundry. That could damage certain types of floors. A wet floor could even harm you. Slipping with a full basket of laundry is no enviable experience, so an anti-slip floor would be good.

Another important aspect which most people consider when making their choice is price. After all, this is a utility room where you ordinarily don’t bring visitors to, so there’s nothing especially spectacular about it. You will therefore reject the luxury options straightaway, because they’re really unnecessary in a laundry room. You should rather concentrate on practicality.

What will definitely not be good?

Probably the worst choice is carpeting. For one thing, it would always be wet, for another the chemicals used to remove stains could damage it. Just pouring a little on the floor will create a permanent spot.

Laminate is certainly another floor that doesn’t go well in laundry rooms. It’s generally known that laminate floors rise because of the action of water. Of course, a drop won’t matter, but if the water is standing on the floor for several hours, it will begin to seep in and you can end up having to replace the whole thing.

Not even wood likes water or chemicals. Excessive humidity causes bulging, gaps to open up, and the formation of mold. In addition, it amounts to some fairly expensive fun. It’s simply not the right choice for places where you can count on the presence of water.

Which ones are worth considering?

One of the acceptable options is classic ceramic floor tiles. It handles water beautifully and so is commonly used in bathrooms. It also enjoys a wide range of design. The problem is the price. You have to figure it won’t be cheap to install it, because per square meter it costs more than the tile itself.

Vinyl floors are another solution that will save you money. The choice of designs is practically as big as for tiles, plus you can choose whether you prefer the classic durable tile or large vinyl parts. Pay special attention to what’s available, because there are differences in PVC tiles.

Because of the dampness, a good anti-slip floor should be considered, one that handles water and chemicals well. Fortelock floor tiles have anti-slip patterns, are resistant to chemicals, and are equipped with a system of channels underneath to draw off moisture. The formation of mold is therefore excluded. And if water happens to get underneath it, there’s no problem removing the tiles for a moment, drying the base, and then putting them back in place.

Do you really want to pay people to make the installation?

The easy installation of Fortelock floor tiles requires only a rubber hammer and knife. Any average able-bodied person is able to manage it without the help of professionals, takes about an hour of your time. In most cases you can even avoid having to modify the base with a screed. Since you do not have to count on costs for work, PVC floor tiles in a room measuring 20 m2 can run you approximately 20,000 crowns.

There are several types of floors cheaper per m2, but after figuring in the work and the pieces lost due to modifying the surface, you will end up with a very similar price. Let’s take as an example again a room measuring 20 m2 and this time let’s go with linoleum for it. For applying a self-leveling compound, you will pay 150 – 230 CZK per m2 (i.e. 3,800 CZK). We can reckon with paying 300 CZK per m2 for the linoleum itself (total 6,000 CZK), but if we choose a thicker variety with higher load resistance, you can easily reach the figure of 600 CZK/m2. You will also have to add in the work – about 550 CZK per m2, because all the gluing and welding doesn’t come cheaply. In total, we will reach the figure of 20,800 CZK.

An additional option is the classic interlocking vinyl floor where you just put the pieces together or else glue them. Again, you will have to count on leveling the substrate (150 CZK/m2), installation work (200 CZK/m2). The price for an ordinary vinyl floor in an apartment is roughly 400 CZK/m2 (again not counting with anything especially expensive). Adding it up, we get 15,000 CZK.

So Fortelock PVC floor tiles are not that much more expensive than other alternatives and it depends on whether the individual wants to pay for quality and innovative solutions. The reasons for going this way are many. In addition to the above, there is also its resistance to wear and impact, and the ability to make easy, local repairs. Simply remove the tiles and replace them. What’s more, you can expect not to have to buy more tiles for decades to come. They come with a warranty for 12 years, but of course they last much longer. You can even move them in the end to somewhere completely different than the laundry room. Their range of usage is broad.